Waiting at the Wall with a prohibited parcel - albums by Bob Dylan and the Velvet Underground - destined for some Eastern Bloc acquaintances, Roland sees a border guard and realizes that they're probably not so different. He's also a delivery system for the author's existential ruminations. Roland is likable and directionless, a part-time pianist, part-time tennis instructor with a string of failed relationships. Expansive and unhurried, "Lessons" explores how one man's life is shaped by the unpredictable sweep of history. Rather, this workaday Englishman is the central figure in a thought-provoking, occasionally plodding character study penned by Ian McEwan, the esteemed British author. This could be the setup for a rousing Cold War thriller, but our man in West Germany isn't a spy. Carrying contraband, he'll soon pass through a militarized checkpoint that splits the city in two. It's the 1970s and Roland Baines, still wounded by an illicit relationship that triggered a lasting identity crisis, approaches the Berlin Wall.
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